The Endless Summer

The Endless Summer Collection

History of the Endless Summer Poster

by R. Paul Allen, Assistant Cinematographer and Producer of Promotion, Marketing and Presentations of The Endless Summer

“The Endless Summer” Day-Glo was produced under my supervision in a garage in Costa Mesa, California by silk screener Eric Askew in 1963-64. Eric Askew had a small silk screening business in his garage silk screening t-shirts and posters. I hired him to silk screen the original 60hx40w inch Day-Glo posters for “The Endless Summer” movie.

These huge dazzlingly eye catching Day-Glo posters were used to advertise the movie in theaters, surf shops or wherever we could display them. However, the sheer size of the poster limited it’s use. Because of this, I ordered a limited number of the 60”x40” silk-screened posters. I also had them printed in smaller poster and handbill sizes, but these regular ink colors couldn’t match the brilliant Day-Glo fluorescent colors John Van Hamersveld had designed for the original silk-screened posters.

From the beginning in 1960 I had worked side by side with Bruce Brown, successfully promoting and presenting all of his surfing movies. In 1963 I became my own boss as R. Paul Allen & Associates so I could promote other clients. By agreement, it was my exclusive responsibility to produce the marketing, promotion and presentations of “The Endless Summer”. Producing the poster was my first priority, along with everything else to do with promoting, advertising and showing the movie in the United States and Canada from it’s inception in 1963 to and including it’s debut theatrically in 1966-67.

My friend John Van Hamersveld was the Art Director of Surfer Magazine and doing free lance art work to earn extra money. He lived nearby in our then (1963) quaint little town of Dana Point, California. Earlier, JVH had designed my stationary and business cards and he agreed to work with me to design the poster. The initial inspiration for “The Endless Summer” poster leaped into my mind from a news article about surfing in the Orange County Daily Pilot. My eyes had focused on an illustration heading the story; a silhouette of a surfer with board under arm, running toward the waves with the sun in the background. It fired my imagination. Saving the illustration to show John, I drew some simple sketches of my ideas and wrote the summary of the movie which I wanted as part of the design of the poster. Shortly thereafter, I headed to JVH’s house to discuss my ideas and concepts with him.

After sharing thoughts, sketches and suggestions, John produced several thumbnails (small drawings) for Bruce Brown and my approval. To design the silhouette effect for the poster, John requested a black and white photograph of Bruce Brown, Robert August and Mike Hynson standing on the beach with their surfboards. Bob Bagley, Bruce Brown’s assistant, took the photograph with John directing. JVH then made a reverse negative of the photo to create the silhouette. On the final poster the silhouettes are Bruce Brown in the foreground, his back facing you. Robert is on the right with the board on his head and Mike is in the middle background with the surfboard under his arm.

John Van Hamersveld with his remarkable artistic talent ultimately put it all together resulting in this stunning poster. His innovative choice of the fluorescent Day-Glo colors and even the unique type face was of his design. Once the poster was finished, I thanked and paid John the huge sum of $150.00 for his artwork. He was happy and so was I, both of us unaware that the movie and this poster would one day be cherished and loved by so many around the world, and now displayed in the New York Museum of Art. Who would’ve known. We were just having fun doing what we loved…